Feeling like a beat up old Chevy....

Today, I had two workouts on the agenda, a run and strength training. I was hopeful I'd be able to do both as my shoulder felt like it was healing relatively quickly, and I had no acute pain. 

I hoped to do the run in the early morning before it got too hot, but I guess my body is trying to heal, and I slept longer than I normally do. I don't use an alarm clock, and I haven't for years. I just woke up naturally around 6 a.m.; today, it was 7:30 a.m., and the day before, it was 8:30 a.m. 

Instead, I decided to do the run after work and indoors on the "Dreadmill" at LA Fitness. There was no way I could do it outside; it was too hot at 100 F, and it wouldn't really be a run; it'd be a walk, run, walk, and more walking than running to keep my heart rate down. 

I haven't run on a treadmill in years, and I remember that it wasn't fun. Time goes much slower than running outdoors, and your mind doesn't drift like it does outside. 

The run ended up being a win of sorts. It lasted for 45 minutes. For the first time in a long time, I ran 40 minutes without stopping, and the last 5 minutes were a fast walking cool down. It was part of the plan,  but mentally, I couldn't bring myself to do that last 5 minutes as a run. 

As I ran, my left calf knotted up and tight. The right calf was perfect, with no knots or tightness. The only thing I could think of was trying to be as careful as possible not to get injured. For example, from past experience, if I go too fast, it will knot up like a baseball, take weeks to heal, and prevent me from running. 

Aside from finishing, all I could think about during the run was finding the roller stick I had used to massage my calf. I also bought a muscle vibrator years ago that I didn't use much need to start using. As strange as it sounds, I prefer the manual "stick roller" as I can feel the muscle more, whereas the vibrator Is a machine, and I'm not sure if it's working in the right area.

After I got off the treadmill, I was dripping sweat, and the sweat didn't stop. I sat down in the locker room on the bench to rest, but it didn't help; I continued to sweat. I've never experienced it before, and I think it must be due to my extra weight. I was never at 240 lbs before. I took a picture as I sat with my shirt off and what I saw I couldn't believe, I am much fatter and soft than I see in the mirror.

The sweating was so bad that I decided to jump into the pool with my running shorts, thinking the cooler water would stop the sweating. I must have been in the pool for at least 15 minutes and was still overheating and hot. It did help, but not perfectly. In the past, all I would have had to do was jump in, and in minutes, I'd have cooled down. 

From the pool I decided to have a cold shower, thinking that would really help, it did and it didn't. It only slowed down the sweating. It was crazy, even after a 15 minute pool plunge and cold shower my body was still sweating. But it was a low enough sweat that I could get dressed, and I hoped that the drive home with the convertible top down the air would cool me further. Wrong. It didn't.

When I got home, I was still sweating slightly until I got out the ladder and tried to find my "roller stick" in the upper shelving of the garage. The garage was hot inside, and the effort to get the ladder, move it, climb it, pull stuff out of the shelf, and put it back turned on the sweat jets. 

I decided not to do the strength training and moved it to tomorrow's training sessions, which is where it was originally. However, because we are going on a mini vacation to Cleveland for the weekend, leaving tomorrow after work, I thought I'd do it today instead, as tomorrow I have a bike and swim scheduled. 

The one thing I'm experiencing physically is something I've never experienced before. All parts of my body hurt in different places at the same time. In the past, I might have had a calf injury, sore back, leg, foot, or whatever, but never at the same time. 

This time around, all parts of my body are sore simultaneously. It starts with my neck from cycling, my left shoulder, elbow, and hip from the bike fall, my left calf and my right hip from running, and my left inner and top of my thigh from strength training. I can't stop sweating after workouts, but other than that, I'm 100%.

I feel like a beat-up old car: It's missing a hubcap, one of the side panels is loose, the trunk doesn't close properly, one of the doors doesn't open properly, the muffler is hanging down, and the paint is bleached from the sun. That's the best way to describe how my body feels. I've never experienced it before.

While doing my strength training calisthenics, I noticed that my legs were not equally strong. My right leg is much stronger than my left. When doing lunges, I could do 15 on the right side and only 10 on the left side, and my flexibility was tighter on the left side. Hence, the left inner thigh was sore. 

For the first time, it's apparent that my body is not as young as my mind. On the one hand, it's very cool to experience this for the first time and actually feel aging, yet on the other hand, it makes me realize I'm no longer a "spring chicken."  

Mentally, I feel that if I didn't start back on this journey to get in shape to do a Half Ironman and lose weight, I would be close to going over the edge physically, healthwise, and weight-wise, never to return. Whether that is true or not, it's how I feel and, in a strange way, motivating me to get back in shape. 

After turning the house upside down, I could not find my roller stick, so I ordered another from Amazon. Not long after I did, I asked my son if he knew where the roller stick was, and he had it. I forgot I gave it to him to use a long time ago. DOH. It's a good thing Amazon has a good return policy. 

Treadmill run - 45:47 - 5.82 km pace - 7:52